Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 1, Number 6, DeMotte, Jasper County, 1 September 1932 — MAURICE MILLER PLACED IN JAIL [ARTICLE]

MAURICE MILLER PLACED IN JAIL

FACES ARSON CHARGE AT CROWN POINT. Maurice Miller, well known in this vicinity is confined in the Lake County jail, under serioos charges growing out of a fire that occurred on the Lowenthal farm northest of Crown Point last Thursday morning. The charges followed an investigation by Fire Chief Lump of the Crown Point Department and State Fire Marshal Hindle. Arriving at the farm in answer to a call after eight o’clock, Mr. Lump and the members of the fire department found the barn a mass of flames and the tenant on the farm, Morris Miller staggering from the burning building with a nasty cut in his throat and his face a mass of bruised flesh. The wounded man claimed that he had been beaten up, hit on the head with an axe and thrown into the barn by his two step sons, who then set fire to the barn with an intention of burning him to death. Lump immediately placed the sons under arrest and with the assistance of former deputy sheriff Thomas Platt brought the whole family including Miller himself to jail where they were delivered to Sheriff Holley for further investigation. Miller’s wounds were dressed by the jail physician and he was made as comfortable as possible. Interrogation of the prisoners revealed conflicting stories. The wounded man claimed that his step sons had attacked him without provocation and that their setting fire to the barn occurred after they had thought he was dead. The Wagners maintained that Miller has been quarrelsome and irritable for some time, and on Thursday morning had started to beat up on his wife, their mother by a former marriage. They had intervened to protect their mother and in the fight that ensued, just about every weapon loose about the place was brought into use, and in the end Miller was pretty badly mauled. They claimed that after the fight he had taken a butcher knife and repaired to the barn. A short time later they discovered smoke issuing from the rear of the structure and immediately sent in an alarm. Fearing an attack upon them with the knife they hesitated in entering the burning barn and had busied themselves attending to their own bruises which resulted from the fight. Sheriff Holley was inclined to accept Miller’s version of the affair and preparations were made to hold the Wagner boys on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill. In the meantime the State Fire Marshal’s office had been notified and Marshal Hindle was soon on the scene and started an investigation. On Saturday, he and Mr. Lump spent the day in sifting the ashes of the burned barn, and after several hours work succeeded in finding the burnt and charred fragments of a butcher knife. The wooden handle had been burned off and the metal blackened and burnt, but it answered closely to the description of the knife, which Mrs. Miller claimed her husband had taken with him into the barn. This corroborated the claims of Mrs. Miller and the two sons, that Miller had used the knife on himself with suicidal intent and had set fire to the barn with a view of making the job a thorough one. The Fire Marshal in commenting upon the affair said:

“The entire credit for uncovering the truth of the affair is due to your local fireman, Mr. Lump. His promptness in notifying the state authorities, and his untiring zeal in uncovering the evidence of the knife was a piece of real detective work, and while it was outside his duties as a fireman, our office appreciates his Work greatly. It would have been difficult to arrive at the real facts without the help he gave us. We have always found him right on the job every minute and ever ready to co-operate with the state offiicals in every emergency. Crown Point is to be congratulated on having a man of his calibre and activity at the head of its fire fighting forces.” Following the evidence uncovered by Lump the Wagner brothers were released from custody in order that

they could look after the farm affairs, pending a trial of Miller on charges to be preferred by the State Fire Marshal.